Renaissance
by Enula
Summary: April rescues a baby turtle, and her and Raph nurse it back to health. Raphril?
1. Saved

**.**

**Renaissance**

_"__April!"_

The redhead stopped dead in her tracks as fear crept up her spine. She clenched her fists and willed her feet to continue moving because it could be bad news if she stayed frozen. She sighed. There was no use trying to escape. She had to face the music. Turning around slowly in the middle of the school's packed hallway, April came face to face with an angered Irma.

_"__Where _are you going? You said you would study with me for our science final tomorrow," her best friend explained with exasperation, "We've been planning this for three weeks."

April remembered making the plans (though she forgot about them up to this point) and slapped her forehead with her palm, "Oh man…that was tonight…?"

"Duh! We just got out of science class! Didn't you hear anything Mr. Shaffer said for the last hour?"

Truthfully, the answer was no. April was way too preoccupied to worry about chemical compounds and….and whatever else they were supposed to know. All she could think about was that Mikey and Casey were currently injured and being treated down in the sewers. Well, they were getting better. Mostly bruising and slight limping at this point, but it still left April feeling out of the loop when she had to attend class.

"Yes! Of course I heard him! I just…" she trailed off. _Think of an excuse, think of an excuse!_

Irma rolled her eyes, "How can I buy into a lie when you can't even think of one off the top of your head? Come on, we can go to my place," Irma grabbed April's arm as she walked past her, determined to keep her best friend close by.

April had to wonder why Irma even wanted to hang out with her anymore. She was always ditching her and making up lame lies about why she does it, and yet Irma was persistent in keeping her as a close friend.

For the second time, April sighed. She figured she would suffer through a few hours of studying and then find a way to sneak down a manhole. Because it's not like that was weird or anything.

Still, she was glad when Irma let go of her arm once they were outside.

"So I see the annoying Casey Jones skipped class again today," Irma said matter of factly and pushed her glasses up with her index finger, "Looks like he'll be failing this year _again_."

"He's not gonna fail," April came to his defense, "I've been tutoring him…he'll be fine."

Irma side glanced over to April, "Why do you even hang out with him anyway? Aren't you embarrassed to be seen with someone like…_that?" _

April glared at the sidewalk in front of her. She loved Irma—she really did—but she didn't always like her attitude. She got that Irma didn't get along with Casey, but that was hardly a reason to insult him, especially when he wasn't even there to defend himself.

"I don't care what other people think, Irma. I hang out with him because I like him, not because I'm trying to impress the world."

"Deep," Irma responded dryly, but could still tell she angered April a bit, "Okay, look, I get it but he just—."

As they rounded a corner, Irma got interrupted by two teenage boys shouting in the street. They were laughing and throwing an object back and forth to each other.

"I hope that rock hits one of them in the face….or both of them," Irma commented.

But as they got closer to the boys, April squinted at the object they were throwing, "That's a weird looking rock…" She was able to catch a better glimpse when one of the boys held it over his head to toss. Her eyes widened in horror. It was a turtle!

_"__Stop!" _She yelled, relieved when the boy didn't throw the turtle again. April stomped over to the boy and held out her hand, "Give me the turtle."

The boy looked at her in mock amusement as he held up his stance in front of his laughing friend, "It's _my _turtle, why should I give it to you?"

"Because you're being cruel!" Was the only explanation April needed to give. Before the boy could laugh, she punched him in the stomach. Training with the guys had made her a lot tougher and the impact her fist had with the boy's gut almost scared her. She didn't mean to hit him that hard and was surprised when he began gasping for breath and fell to his knees.

If it was under any other circumstances, she would have apologized. But she was in the middle of rescuing a turtle. She easily plucked the reptile from the fallen boy's hand, just then noticing how tiny it was. It fit nicely in the palm of her hand, though all of its limbs and head were hidden within its shell.

That's when the condition of the shell caught her eye. It was filthy with algae in the grooves. Obscene pictures were painted on the hard surface. And it even looked like they tried to etch a letter into the shell using a sharp object…a razor blade or pocket knife presumably.

"Oh, you poor little thing…" She put her other hand over it protectively as she glared daggers at the boy who was just finding the strength to get up, "How dare you hurt this baby turtle!"

He held an open hand over his stomach as he stood, "Geez, chill out. He can't feel it if it's on his shell!"

"And you're an idiot! How would you like it if I ripped all your fingernails off!?"

"Hey," Irma suddenly appeared at her side, hand on her shoulder, "Come on, let's go." It was making Irma nervous to have April yelling and threatening these boys who could be psychopaths for all they knew. She was quite impressed that April brought the boy down with one punch, but his friend was walking over and didn't need them ganging up on April.

"They're not even worth it," April turned and walked away much to Irma's relief. She didn't think it would be that easy.

"You can't just take my turtle!" The boy yelled angrily.

"I _can _and I can also report you for animal abuse!" April yelled without turning around. She was boiling inside, her heart pounding in her ears. She couldn't even imagine the pain this little turtle was in and she had to help it as best as she could.

"April, wait!" She heard Irma yell from far behind her and that was when she realized she was running. She had to get to the lair. The guys would know what to do. She dared to lift her top hand and look at the tiny shell in her palm. The turtle still didn't peak out.

"Assholes!" She whispered harshly, hoping that the wind would whoosh it back to those boys and punch their faces with her word.

Turning down an alley, she quickly yet carefully removed the manhole. She jumped down into the sewer, her upper body rigid with worry at hurting the turtle even more. Running through the shallow water, she kept the turtle in the dark home of her hands, and she was sure she felt his legs poking out a few times before retreating back into his shell.

Once she made it through the turnstiles, her eyes quickly scanned the lair and silently hoped that they weren't all out for some reason.

That's when she happened to hear a page being turned from the couch. Walking further in, she saw Raph lying on his side with his cheek in his palm. A comic book lay open in front of him as he lazily flipped through the pages.

She rushed in front of him, falling to her knees in front of the couch. His eyes left the pages and looked to the girl in shock.

"Raph, please help," She held out her hands to reveal the baby turtle.

Raph's eyes widened at the terrible looking shell, "What the heck happened, did it—."

"I'll explain later, but we need to get his shell clean. Do you know how or should I get Don—."

"No, he's workin' on somethin' important," Raph swung himself over the back of the couch and went to the kitchen. He got a bowl and filled it with water, "Come 'ere," he cocked his head to tell April to follow him into his room. He placed the bowl down on the table that Spike always ate his leaves on. He then went to one of his shelves, pushing a few knickknacks out of the way until he found what he was looking for. A toothbrush. He tore it out of its package before handing it to April, "Scrub him gently. I'll be right back."

April's heart was still pounding fast as she dipped the turtle in the water with the brush, biting her lip harshly when it seemed to make the algae on the shell come to life. She began scrubbing.

He still wasn't coming out of his shell and she was beginning to worry that he was hurt elsewhere. She brought him close to her face, her voice lowered, "Come on out, little guy. No one's gonna hurt you anymore."

Nothing.

She sighed and continued scrubbing, cringing when it made the shell look a bit worse as the algae rose from the shell.

Raph came back in and put another bowl on the counter. The smell immediately went to April's nose. Solvent.

"Here," Raph held his hand out and April willingly handed the baby over. Raph looked closely at the shell from different angles before flipping him over to look at his plastron. April didn't notice before, but he was also painted on his belly as well. She covered her mouth and tried to hold back tears that stung her eyes. As a lifelong animal lover, it was hard for her to see this. Even when she saw an animal in the street that looked hungry she felt awful.

But Raph quickly got to work as he seemed to know the right amount of solvent to water ratio to use when washing the turtle. After every few minutes, he would wash the shell with a rag before examining and then scrubbing.

As more time went by, April was starting to see a difference. The paint wasn't as bright and the bacteria was disappearing. She finally felt her heart rate slow and her muscles relax as she leaned against the counter to watch Raph work silently and diligently. His green eyes were narrowed in concentration under the dim light and a tight frown curved his mouth.

She caught his eyes quickly glancing over to her for a mere second, "Want to tell me what happened now?"

April narrowed her eyes, "A couple punks were tossing him like a football. They thought it was hilarious, but…" she focused on the hidden turtle, "He's obviously still afraid."

"Mm," was his only response. He turned the turtle over, "Looks like he might have an infection. I still got some cream for that from when I had…" he trailed off though it didn't seem like he noticed. He grabbed a tube of Silverdyne Cream and rubbed it on the turtle's plastron.

April studied closely, "Did you learn all this from keeping Spike as a pet?"

It could have been her imagination, but it seemed like he jumped slightly before pulling up a stool and sitting down as he worked, "Yeah, somethin' like that."

She nodded. It was suddenly strange…she was never really alone with Raph for this long and was at a loss of what to talk about. She didn't want to leave, however. She at least wanted to wait until Raph said that the baby would be okay. Eyeing another stool that was tucked under the table, she slowly pulled it out and waited to see if Raph would object. When he didn't say a thing, she sat down next to him.

"So where is everyone?" she asked.

"Sensei and Leo are in the dojo with Casey and Mikey. They're tryin' ta get them to meditate to heal faster. Don't know how well that's working." April watched as Raph set the turtle down on the cloth and looked at the side of the shell closely before getting the solvent, water, brush, then scrubbing.

"And Donnie?"

"He's workin' on some sorta tracking device to find Karai. Guess we're plannin' on rescuin' her or some crap." He sounded none too happy with this plan yet willing to go along with it.

She nodded, "How's Leo taking it?"

Raph groaned, "By becoming even broodier. Seriously, for a leader that's supposed to stay positive all the time, he sure does brood a lot."

April smiled softly, "That's what happens when feelings are involved…"

"Yeah well…he needs to get over those feelings. It's makin' him stupid," Raph dipped the toothbrush into the solvent hard enough to splash some on the table, but made sure to go easy on the turtle, "It's like I'm always tellin' Donnie…"

April kept her eyes on the baby turtle. She would rather not have him say whatever he was going to say because she didn't need to hear it.

"I can't believe he thinks he has a chance with a human anyway," he mumbled. April wasn't sure which _he _Raph was referring to.

"Can I try again?" she asked, holding out her hands for the turtle. Pausing, Raph raised an eyebrow at her skeptically. She rolled her eyes, "Come on, I won't hurt him. _I'm _the one that rescued him, remember?"

He looked back down at the baby and it was then that April realized how he was looking at it. It was hard to pinpoint, but it definitely seemed protective. Still, Raph handed the baby over to April a moment later, also giving her the brush.

He watched her hands closely.

She brushed the turtle for a few seconds before finally responding, "Feelings don't really take chances into consideration…"

"Whatever, I don't wanna talk about it," Raph dismissed, clearly feeling uncomfortable with the subject. April silently wondered if she would be able to get him to explain himself anytime soon. He was obviously bothered by it, but she couldn't tell if he was disturbed over the fact that his brothers had feelings for humans or that humans would never be able to develop feelings for them.

It was peculiar how suddenly she wanted to talk to him. About everything. But that was the problem…he wouldn't just talk about everything. He always had his guard up and it made it impossible for anyone to get close to him. She figured Leo knew him the best which was probably why they were always arguing. Raph had to put up double defenses around his older brother and Leo saw right through it

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to get over rejection," April said with a smirk and a chuckle. She was trying to lighten the mood; "I remember this one time when I was ten, I wanted to tell this one boy I liked him…I think his name was Jake. Anyway, he found out I liked him through the power of gossip and he made fun of me for it for_ever. _Well…it was like a week or something. Either way, I got over him fairly quickly."

Raph put his elbow on the table, his fist cradling his head, "That was an awful story. And besides, that reaction wouldn't apply to everyone. You're not a hopeless romantic like Leo and Donnie are."

She raised her eyebrows, "Who says I'm not a hopeless romantic?"

Raph gave her a dull look that very easily said '_Really? You're gonna argue with me on this one?' _and April had to relent, mumbling out a: "Yeah, whatever. Disney ruined it for me."

"Who's Disney?"

"Some guy who believed that a true love's kiss could bring someone back from the dead."

"Sounds like a hoax."

"Pretty much."

"So you're saying that—."

April suddenly gasped, "Raph, look! I think he's coming out of his shell!" She held her palm flat open as she felt tiny movements on her skin. Raph leaned over next to her, their cheeks grazing as they stared at the tiny turtle peeking his head and limbs out.

"Aww, he's _so _cute!" April exclaimed in a loud whisper so as not to scare him again.

"Looks like he's 'bout four months old," Raph stated.

Though April was highly pleased with the turtle finally making his grand appearance, she couldn't help but glance at Raph through her peripheral. The emerald seemed brighter than usual as his smile actually reached his eyes. Her vision happened to catch the crack in his plastron and, having just cared for the baby, was suddenly curious as to how it happened.

But that would be a question for another time.

The baby was finally fully out of his shell, his little legs moving up and down in a stretching motion.

"What should we name him?" April asked as she cautiously laid her pinky from her free hand down on front of the turtle. She giggled softly when he nudged it with his snout.

"Umm…Moose?" he suggested.

April rolled her eyes, "We're not naming a turtle Moose."

"Buzz?"

"He's not a bee either. He needs something that'll fit in with you guys. How about…" April thought back to her art class she took the year before. They were coincidentally studying Renaissance artists. She laughed every time one of the turtle's names were mentioned; "What about Giotto?"

Raph looked insulted, "That's a—…" he trailed off as he suddenly thought about what she said. Giotto. He looked from her to the baby. Giotto. "That's actually…not bad. It fits…"

April remembered the name from studying Italian Renaissance artists. She never thought the knowledge would actually come in handy.

"Gio for short," Raph added.

She grinned, "It's perfect." She wiggled her pinky to tickle Gio under his chin, "Hi, Gio. How are you?"

Of course, Gio didn't answer, just stared at the two of them, but April thought she saw a look in his eyes that clearly said _thank you._

Gently, she placed him on the table so he could walk around if he wanted. Now that he wasn't in the palm of April's hand, there was no reason for Raph to be that close to her and he found himself quickly jumping from his seat. He left his room without saying a word.

April narrowed her eyes, wondering what just got into the mysterious turtle in red. Before she could think too hard on it, however, Raph came back in and set a couple leafs down in front of Gio. Instantly, Gio began chomping away on his dinner.

"Wow, he must have been starving," April commented, frowning a bit when she wondered when the last time he actually ate was.

"Well, he'll be able to eat whenever he wants from now on," Raph said with more conviction than April was expecting, making her focus all her attention to the teenage turtle.

She could visibly see him making a vow in his mind that he would protect this baby turtle they just named Giotto and not let it get mutated into a vicious monster like Spike became. Which meant her had to keep it away from Mikey. Gio wasn't about to get turned into ice cream either…

And she suddenly felt special that she could see this moment in Raphael. She was impressed when he instantly took action and cleaned Gio up with the right tools…Gio's shell still needed a bit more touching up, but there would be time for that. They were going to have a very happy baby Gio.

April nudged Raph with her elbow, smiling at him when he snapped out of his thoughts and looked over to her, "You look good with your defenses down," she told him delicately, "you should do it more often."

His eyes searched hers for a long moment. It was almost intimidating and her instincts wanted to look away, but she held onto her bravery and met his gaze. She wasn't sure what she was seeing. Even when he was looking right into her, it was so hard to read him.

Finally, he rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue, standing up from his stool again and going over to his shelf. He scanned through his comic book collection without actually seeing the titles.

This was normal. And she was fine with it, so she laid her head on her arm as she watched Gio eat, her finger tenderly following his patterns on his shell.

She was so proud that she was able to rescue the next Renaissance turtle.


	2. Mutated

_AN: Okay, so I wasn't expecting this to be more than a oneshot, but some things are just beyond our control. Many of you wanted to hear more about Gio, and April and Raph, so...and I've been having ideas for this story, especially after I saw TMNT 2014. Hearing about Project Renaissance and how April was the one to save the turtles...I was watching it like hmmm...this sounds kinda familiar. Hahah, so remember, I first posted this back at the beginning of June, I had no idea Michael Bay's film was going to use the same idea. Anyway, here's the second part. Encouraging reviews keep me motivated! Thank you!_

* * *

**Renaissance**

**II.**

It had been nearly a year since she saved Gio from the bullies and he has since then become part of the family. April remembered the first day she came back to the lair after her and Raph had fixed up the baby turtle. All four teenagers were in the living room doing their own thing, Leo watching his show, Donnie tapping away on his laptop, Mikey eating some creation he just concocted, and Raph reading a comic.

"How's my baby doing today?" She asked, expecting everyone to talk about something funny the little turtle did that day.

But she was only met with three sets of confused eyes.

"Donnie! My turtle! You didn't tell me something happened between you and April!" Was the first words spoken from Mikey.

Donnie's face lit up like a fanned flame, "U-uh…nothing, I-I mean, I d-don't recall anything that—."

Leo cut him off, "Wait a minute! This's impossible, because surely Donnie would have been displaying some sort of—."

"It's not about me, okay!?" Donnie stopped him, his irritation and confusedness getting the best of him.

Raph just rolled his eyes and turned the page of his comic.

April put her hands on her hips, "Raph, you didn't even have the decency to tell them?"

"Oh no, please say this isn't happening…" Donnie mumbled under his breath as he gripped his laptop and put his face as close to the screen as possible. If he needed to block something out, he was prepared to shut down and make a run for it.

"I didn't think it was any of their business," Raph replied as he turned another page.

"Why oh why did it have to be Raphael…" Donnie grumbled again and it appeared that he was about to start banging his head against his device.

April sighed at Raph's response, "Well, I'll be in your room then."

The three clueless turtles couldn't be blamed for their speculations after that mysterious conversation. But it wasn't long before April came back out holding baby Gio in her palm to introduce. And when she finally explained everything that happened, realization dawned on Leo and Mikey's faces whereas Donnie looked nothing but relieved.

Over the last year, Gio had become a favored household pet as he was allowed to roam the lair as he pleased (as long as someone was watching him). Even Splinter would sometimes be found with Gio on his shoulder as he meditated.

And there were occasions when April would take Gio home to her apartment. Raph always expressed his dislike of the idea, but April continuously reminded him that _she _was the one that saved him, therefore wouldn't let anything bad happen to him.

And she was hoping in a weird sort of way that her and Raph would grow a little closer since their small bonding moment during the day she saved Gio. But no alone time ever came about. Like before, she found herself in the lab with Donnie more often than not, whether she had Gio with her or not. But she knew that if he wasn't with her that Raph was keeping a close watch on him and making sure Mikey didn't do anything stupid.

But ironically enough, it wasn't Mikey that Raph had to worry about.

One evening when April was walking home from the lair with Gio, she came across a commotion going on in a side-street restaurant. Her training had come along way as a kunoichi and she couldn't just ignore what could possibly be trouble.

As it turned out, it was some maniac who had somehow come across a canister of mutagen and was threatening to pour the green liquid on anyone that didn't give him what he wanted.

The innocent civilians, thinking it was some sort of acid or liquid disease (they weren't too far off) were screaming in terror as they reached in their purses and wallets for the money they had on them.

"Hold it right there!" April yelled as she entered the restaurant, not feeling at all intimidated by the canister of glowing green goo. But looking back, she knew she should have been more aware. It wasn't just her, after all. She held Gio, who had gone into his shell due to all the yelling, in her left hand, never even considering what the crazy guy might actually do.

She took out her tessen as she ran toward the man, ready to knock him unconscious and then have the police handle the rest. But the man, frightened by her attack, smashed the canister against the side of a counter before throwing a broken half right at her.

April held up her tessen to block the sharp glass flying at her face, but as the broken half flew over her, mutagen dripped from its sanctuary and splattered all over her. Still, nothing to be concerned about considering she was immune to it…

But when she became acutely aware of the heavy weight in her left hand, she opened her palm to find a couple green spots on her Gio.

Her eyes widened in horror, "No….no no no no no _no no no NO!" _The surprise and panic rose within her and before she could think, she swung her tessen as hard as she could at the offender, hardly wincing as it made contact with his skull, knocking him off his feet, before it returned to her waiting hand. He was out for the count.

Although the innocent civilians were trying to thank her for her courageousness, she couldn't think about them right then. She bolted from the scene as she tried desperately to wipe away the mutagen that landed on Giotto's shell.

She ran into an alley even though she noticed no more mutagen on him. She kept looking at the shell in her hand, but nothing was happening. She breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned against a building.

"Raph woulda killed me…"

But just as she got the sentence out, the turtle in her hand began to glow a bright green. Her eyes widened as he became too hard to look at, but the extra weight being added to her hand told her well enough what was taking place.

"Oh, no…Gio….Gio…." she could do nothing but lower her hand to the ground as the glowing green grew and grew into a shape all too familiar to her. Before she knew it, a toddler mutant turtle kneeled before her, all four limbs still touching the ground and his eyes downcast.

"Gio…I'm so sorry little one…" April kept repeating as she watched the confused eyes of a half human half turtle look up at her. The first thing she noticed were his eyes. They were unmistakably cyan. A color midway between blue and green and a complementary color of red.

He opened his mouth, "Ap—," but he cut himself short when he heard a foreign language come out of him. That wasn't what he normally sounded like!

April reached out a tender hand to his head, "It's okay…Gio, you're—."

The panic in him arose as he slapped her hand away from him. He stood up on two legs, wobbling as he looked down at himself in wonderment.

A surge was rushing through him and April could sense that he was getting ready to bolt. In a flash, she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, "Gio, please! Please don't run…" The last word cracked in her throat as her tears stung her nose, "We'll get you back to the lair…with Raph and Donnie and Leo and Mikey….you remember them, right?"

Mutagen was a tricky substance. How people or animals reacted to it was so random that believing it could possibly work in favor of wants and desires was ludicrous.

So she was hardly surprised, if not disappointed, when the mutagen really kicked in and he tried to fight her off. She blocked a blow to her face and again wrapped her hand around him, this time his ankle, as he tried to escape.

Gio fell to the earth when he was tripped, quickly flipping himself over to bat at her hand, "Off! Off, off, off!"

"Gio, stop!" April yelled in a pitiful attempt to make him realize who and what he was. But the obscurity of his situation mixed with the substance now running in his blood kept him from coming to his senses. He tried to attack her again, but she somehow managed to get her arms around his waist and yank him up to throw him over her shoulder.

"Off!" Gio yelled again as he pounded his fists into her back and his legs kicked her front.

April couldn't deny that these blows hurt, possibly more mentally than physically, but she knew she couldn't let him run off. She supposed this is what it was like trying to calm a child from a temper tantrum; it wasn't just that she could handle it, it was that she _had _to.

Scanning the area, she made sure the coast was clear before she exited the alley and jumped down a manhole.

_This is it…Raph is going to kill me when he sees what happened…_She kept wondering as she got closer to the lair she just left not twenty minutes ago if this would be the last run she ever took. She wouldn't blame Raph for whatever he did, however. She knew she would do the same to anyone that was placed in her shoes.

Though she might not have gotten a whole lot closer to Raph in the past year, an invisible and unspoken bond had formed between the two due to Gio. And April knew that Raph had went through some great measures to keep little Gio out of harm's way, even if it was something small like Mikey messing around with something or Donnie creating something that had to do with mutagen.

And she literally had to come up with a speech of why it was safe for her to bring Gio back to her place for a few nights now and then. She finally got into a yelling match with the hot-headed turtle because he was being way too over protective in her book.

She groaned at her luck as her eyes found the entrance to their lair. She jumped the turnstiles and tried to ignore the tiny _oomph! _Gio made when his body collided with hers upon landing.

Interesting that all the turtles were in the living room (right where she left them) when she arrived.

"Guys! Uh…something…happened…"

The uncertainty and fear in her voice made all four of them look up. And their eyes instantly connected with the tiny green legs that were kicking at her midsection.

April focused on Raph's response the most.

First he looked in denial. He grinned and looked about to call her on her joke. But when he realized there was no possible way she could pull that off (nor would want to), his eyes widened and his comic dropped to the floor.

"Dude! We have a new ninja on the team!" Mikey offered, being the first to recover and accept what he saw.

Raph jumped over the back of the couch and clenched his fists, "What have you done…?"

April shook her head quickly, "Raph, I'm so sorry, let me expl—OW!" She cut herself short when she felt Gio sink his teeth into her shoulder. She couldn't help but release her grip on him as pain seared through her shoulder and neck. Gio took this opportunity to free himself as he ran from her. His young mind was unsure of which way to go so he ended up running in circles around the lair until something made sense.

"How did this happen, April?" Leo asked as he watched the young turtle topple over everything that was in his way.

"Uhh-um…well, see there was this guy who—."

"It don't matter, 'cause Donnie can make some retromutagen, right?" Raph cut her off, his voice low and obviously pissed off.

All eyes turned towards Donnie despite the ruckus Gio was making, "I…well, I can _try, _it's been awhile since—."

"What is going on out here!" came a voice that made everyone stop and stand at attention. All except Gio, of course. But as Splinter (and the rest of the ninjas) watched as Gio ran toward Splinter, he narrowed his eyes and yelled bluntly, "_Juubun!"_

Though Gio probably had no idea what that meant, he stopped dead in his tracks at the loud and demanding voice. The young turtle looked up at Splinter in wonder and alarm, his short legs quaking in fear.

Splinter stared at the tiny turtle and recognized instantly what happened.

Still, he asked, "How did this happen?"

Everyone continued to stand deathly still until April finally sighed and stepped forward, "Master Splinter…it was my fault. There was this guy…and he had a canister of mutagen…and he threw it at me and…." She stopped and glanced over at Raph. He was glaring daggers at her, his emerald eyes dark with animosity.

Splinter didn't need to hear anymore, "Just as well…what has happened has happened. Giotto is now a mutant and must be watched closely. He may be small, but darkness is coursing through his veins."

April shook her head and took a few more steps forward, "No…Sensei, I was the last thing he was touching when he mutated…he can't be…" she couldn't bring herself to continue, because thinking that her adorable baby turtle was evil was…blasphemous!

Splinter's wise eyes narrowed, "It does not matter who or what he touched last. Mutagen blackens the heart and leaves the mutant at its will."

"But…" she looked around at her mutant friends then back at Splinter, hoping he realized what she was trying to ask.

"All of those that have been mutated have become nefarious because it releases a survival hormone into the bloodstream that causes the one that has been mutated go be under its control. I had been trained in the art of deep meditation….and because of that, I was able to keep my humanity. My four sons…they were not always this civilized. It took years of training and discipline to get them to where they are now."

"Years…?" April glanced at each of the four brothers, wondering if they even remembered those years of mutant rebellion.

As if on cue, Gio got tired to standing around waiting for the conversation to end and attacked Splinter's leg. It was pitiful, to say the least, as the small half human half reptile tried to punch at his feet with no visible outcome.

Splinter didn't even look down as he turned and walked back into his meditation room, Gio still latched into his leg.

April let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding.

"Don't worry, April. Splinter has everything under control," Leo offered, seeing how tense she was.

_"__Splinter _has _nothin' _under control!" Raph spoke up, "I mean, sure, he can scare the shit outta the kid, but that doesn't change the fact that—."

"I'll start working on a new retromutagen," Donnie cut him off before Raph could insult April's responsibility levels, "It may take a little while because I need to go through my notes, get another full canister of mutagen, mix the right amount with April's DNA…"

"It won't be done today, we get it!" Raph interrupted this time, "I'm already sick of everyone thinkin' this situation is okay 'cause it's temporary! Fact is that it happened!" He turned his attention to April again and pointed an accusing finger, "_You _promised you would protect him at all costs!"

April looked down, her shoulders slumping, "I know, and I feel awful about—."

"Hey, don't blame April!" Donnie cut in, stepping in between the two even though they were at least ten feet apart, "She obviously didn't want this sort of thing to happen either, it just—."

"Stay outta this, Donnie!" Raph yelled, "You can't defend her mess-ups no matter how much ya like her!"

Before Donnie could defend _himself, _April stepped around him to get closer to Raph, "There's no need to take your anger out on anyone but me, Raph! I messed up and I'm _sorry, _okay? But until Donnie can create the retromutagen, it is what it is."

Raph snorted and crossed his arms, "Spoken like a true quitter."

April shot her head back like he slapped her, "A quitter? I'm just accepting the things that can't be changed right now! You should try it sometime!"

"I'll _never _accept what you turned Gio into!"

There was fire in both of their eyes now, "Well at least he's not a ten foot tall tortoise who goes around breaking your brothers' arms!"

Ouch. Too close to home.

"You know what? Whatever! _You're_ the one that let this happen so there's no use in trying to make_ me_ feel bad!" And with that, Raph turned on his heel and disappeared into his bedroom.

She wasn't sure why, but watching him walk away from her hurt more than anything. She could feel the eyes of the other turtles on her and it made her feel self-conscious.

"You need any comfort food, April?" Mikey finally spoke up, lightheartedly yet brightly, "I can make a pizza with anything ya want on it!"

Feeling a harsh sting behind her eyes, April shook her head, "Not hungry right now. I'll…be in the lab." And with a quick pace, she made her way toward Donnie's lab; she had to escape the pitied looks but didn't want to go home before knowing the short term consequences for Gio. Raph would _have _to forgive her eventually, especially after everything returned to normal, but for now, his anger was affecting her more than she thought it would.


End file.
